Woman tells Mackay court she had no choice but to speed

Pam has been at the Daily Mercury since March 2013 and has also worked as a journalist in Batemans Bay and Wellington both in NSW. And yes, that does make her a Blues supporter. Growing up she moved around different places including Sydney, Moree, Wollongong and lived for about two years as a high school student on a small island in Micronesia called Pohnpei. Pam loves water sports, including SCUBA diving, snorkelling and kayaking but her awful balance means she’ll never touch a surf board. Ever...

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A WOMAN has tried to fight her speeding ticket, saying she had no other safe option but to hit the accelerator while overtaking on the Bruce Hwy.

Kylie Anne Carroll received a fine for travelling at 138kmh on the highway near Calen on April 29 this year, the Mackay Magistrates Court heard.

Representing herself in court, Carroll said there was a lot more to the story.

She was on her way from Brisbane to Townsville and had been behind a slower vehicle for some time, she told Magistrate Ross Risson.

There was a line of cars and it came to her turn to overtake.

She pulled out to see if it was clear and it was, so she committed to overtaking the slow vehicle.

At that point she saw a car come over a crest in the distance.

It was a police officer.

Carroll told the court she tried to pull back in behind the slow vehicle but the car that had been travelling behind her had pulled up too close to it.

"So, I accelerated," she said. "It sounds insane but I wasn't speeding until I saw the police officer.

"The whole time I was looking at the speed.

"I only accelerated because I was going to hit him head-on," she said.

Carroll told the court she was travelling with a good friend and children in the car.

The police officer pulled her over and issued a speeding ticket.

Carroll doesn't believe she was travelling at 138kmh and said it was about 10kmh less.

Magistrate Ross Risson fined Carroll $250, which was less than the original fine she had received from the police officer.

Mr Risson said she had been "caught in a bind".

SPEEDING RULES

According to the Department of Transport and Main Roads, it is never legal to exceed the speed limit while overtaking.

It is an offence to unreasonably obstruct another driver and this includes driving "abnormally slowly", the Transport Operations Regulation states. For example, a car doing 20kmh in an 80kmh zone for no reason.